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Ecological and Health Dimensions of Global Plastics Governance and Its International Institutions
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Plastic pollution—including tiny microplastics—isn't just an environmental problem, it's a health problem too, but this study finds that the international agreements and organizations meant to tackle plastic waste don't do a great job connecting the dots between the two. In other words, the people negotiating global plastic treaties and the people focused on public health aren't fully coordinating, which means the human health risks of plastic pollution may be getting less attention than they deserve in the rules being written right now. This matters because as global leaders finalize a landmark plastics treaty, closing this gap could mean stronger protections for the food, water, and air you're exposed to every day
Plastic pollution has emerged as a significant global environmental challenge. While marine plastic pollution has been widely recognised, it requires global collective action under existing international institutions. Also, plastic (including microplastics) pollution has negative impacts on human health. It is thus essential to observe how existing international institutions governing plastic pollution have translated the linkages between ecological and health dimensions into their institutional arrangements. This research selects the cases of negotiations of the global plastics treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), other international environmental institutions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the documents of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to analyse and understand the gaps between ecological and health considerations in global plastics governance. Keywords: Global governance; plastic pollution; public health; marine plastics; microplastics
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This analysis examines existing multi-level governance structures for plastics—from global agreements to local regulations—and explores how a new global plastics treaty could complement rather than duplicate these existing frameworks. The authors identify principal roles, shortcomings, and gaps in current governance and propose ways to integrate a new binding instrument with the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions and other relevant regulatory bodies.
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